I loved the snow last year! We rarely had snow where I grew up and when we moved here everyone said it wouldn't snow, it hadn't snowed since the 80's and all that stuff. Well, it did snow and it was awesome! Our street wasn't gritted so everyone cleared the snow as best we could and gritted it but we just had to go on foot everywhere for a few days until it was safe enough to drive. I know it's a pita for a lot of people but it was a huge novelty for me. I couldn't believe it snowed on the beach (yeah, I'm pretty thick). Here are my two favourite pictures of the snowy beach - we turned back when we realised we were walking in the sea!

Oh WOW alec those pictures are fantastic.I like the Nasa picture taken from space showing the UK completely covered in white.

Can you tell I love the white stuff I know I am lucky as I work at home (although getting to school can be a challenge, especially with 4-5 kids in tow!!!) but I love love love love winter. Did I tell you I love winter

I never have made any special effort to keep a 'just incase' store cupboard but last winter there was a period of the local Coop struggling to get deliveries and we were very close to running out of toilet roll, bread and milk. So this year I will start to build a bit of a little stash.

No too bothered about bread as I can make that myself.

Also candles I need to stock up on incase of blackout but other than that - I try not to get osessively panicky about what if.... eeeeek maybe I should lol

I don't aim to keep a store cupboard. We use UHT milk anyway and I have about 8 bags of bread flour in my freezer so no danger of running out of that. We shan't starve, plenty of meat in freezer and supermarket is a 15 min walk away so could be walked if necessary.

I am quite looking forward to the winter this year, last year I was in the middle east and then India and missed all the snow and cold! Yes, I was sweltering at 38+ degree boy the sea was good!!!

I have a bit of a store, some tinned meat meals, some indian boil in the bag meals (from India of all places) a small stock of loo rolls and candles, bread I make myself and thats about it really.

Have also looked at some long range weather forecasts and 1 says mild for october/november and another one says the same as the mail, snow october then november and december. Suppose its a lets wait and see...... english weather!!!

Does anyone have that reflective radiator foil stuff? We used to live in a terraced house so the house was really warm but now all our radiators are on external walls so was thinking of fitting some of this. Does it make a difference so you think?

Yeah that's what I meant rather than just tin foil wrapped cardboard. I have very strong negative feelings towards British Gas... best not gone into suffice to say they nearly caused us to not be able to move house through their dodgy techniques.

Hi guyswe have laminate flooring all through the downstairs and the underlay we used was foam stuff backed with foil and the leftover stuff we stuck behind the radiatorsit does seem to have helped a bit as the walls behind the radiators arent roasting while the rest of the room is chilly

my local council dished out free of charge, the plastic ribbed sheets to fit behind your radiators along with chimney ballon, water butt, compost bin, pipe lagging, loft and cavity wall insulation if you need it, letter box cover and cylinder tank cover. Have fitted the radiator sheets, pipe lagging and cylinder tank cover so am hoping this all works. will let you know.

Did any of your councils offer this? It was at a 'go green(er)' event....

Our council doesn't have anything like that running now - which is understandable as they're skint. But where we lived before it was classed as a deprived area so there were loads of initiatives to try to get people to be more green, recycle and all that . So we were given a water butt, compost bin, free compost, energy check and had we lived in a house with cavities we could have had reduced price cavity wall insulation too. People in receipt of benefits could get a whole load of other help too which is good. Last winter everyone in the borough was given a bag of grit for the winter too (I think it was to stop people emptying the bins or robbing the depot).

Anyone over 50 could have a look at what their local Age Uk are doing. When I worked for Age Concern we had loads of grants and stuff, I guess it will be the same now they've merged into Age Uk.

The temp has definately dropped here today so i am going to have to get on with my winter frogsToday i am going to look out my winter curtains for the living room and get them washed as they make a massive difference to the heat in there and maybe get them put up as well (depends on how long they take to dry). i would like to find cheap thermal linings for curtains as i could be doing with lining the bedroom ones to keep it a bit more snuggly in there too.

lollyfin wrote:Wow that was great mesh wish mine did thatI have tried to get cavity wall insulation through 2 different grant thingys and no one has ever called me back, I will have to get all growly on it i think

Hi lollyfin, I see you are in N E Scotland, it may be different for you 'up north' but the local council event wasnt well advertised and I was told to apply for everything and you will get. the council 'wanted' people to apply for them. I would call them back again (and again) and also the CAB. Also, my energy provider (EDF) provided loft/cavit wall insulation for a nominal amount. I know they have to offer this to their customers at a reduced rate as they are 'duty bound' to reduce your fuel costs. Could you try them?

Hope you are lucky. I noticed the additional loft insulation made a hugh difference last year. fingers x'd for you...

Insulation is my problem. this house has minimal, if any. The landlord isn't prepared to pay for it and we can't pay for it so we have to just put up with the heat escaping.

I'll be very surprised if we get through this winter in this house to be honest. It's our 3rd winter and all ready I can feel the anxiety of having to cope with the inconveniences of living with draughts, having to be frugal with the heating - basically being cold. We still owe £150 from the gas off last winter. It's these months where I really miss my well insulated new build.

I so want my own home again so I could save to do the work that needs doing. We're saving for a wireless thermostat to have in the living room. That way the heating will only come on when the room thermostat suggests it and not every single time the thermostat on each radiator throughout the house senses it's cold. The landlord isn't prepared o pay for a 'want' and has stipulated that if we do it we must leave it in place for the next tenants. I detest renting sometimes - I would much rather be renting for LA but can't get anywhere as our need for a council house isn't a 'need' Even when we were faced with reposession we were only a category C.

I've gone on haven't I? I just get so upset at living here in the cold and damp (it's not damp, we've no mold but give it a couple more years of it and i'm sure the patches will begin to develop)

off to MSE prep for winter thread to have a read for some inspiration. Proactive eh?!

I think the cavity wall peeps must be reading this thread as they phoned me today before i had to get growly and are coming round to do an inspection next friday so fingers crossed it all goes well and i am going to ask the guy if they do loft insulation as well and ask him to have a look,i dont do lofts as they involve things i dont like including spiders and heights (im such a woose).We are in credit with our gas/elec by £213, they asked me for a reading yesterday. I am pleased and also a bit annoyed about this because when they put our dd up last year i told them we didnt use £204 a month but they insisted we would, lying toads, they then dropped the dd twice over the next 6 months but it really caused us problems last year as they did that the month before xmas. We are now paying £84 a month and if they dare to come and ask for more im going to tell them where to stick it.Sorry rant over the point i was getting too is hopefully our bills will go down when we do this